AMC Entertainment Inc. is making a bet: By installing power recliners and renovating the concession area at its La Jolla theater, it will successfully compete with two new luxury cinemas nearby.

The venerable AMC complex on Villa La Jolla Drive is the only AMC in the county scheduled for renovations. AMC will improve seating, concessions, and restrooms, but the company may not raise prices at all in effort to lure movie fans who’ve adapted to home viewing back to the theater.

“We hear so often, ‘I can sit in a living room and watch a movie.’ We’re bringing the comfort of the living room to the movie theater,” said Ryan Noonan, a AMC spokesman.

The move is part of a larger trend toward movie theater improvements that allow theater chains to charge more and to attract new crowds.

“Many movie theaters are trying offer more bells and whistles on the upper end to charge more,” S. Siddarth, a marketing professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, said in an interview last month.

AMC has been renovating some of its theaters around the country, including revamping sites in Virginia, Atlanta, and Kansas City, Mo. Its La Jolla theater must compete with the high-end ArcLight Cinemas less than two miles away in University City, and with Cinepolis in Del Mar Heights. Work will start in January and finish by May, but the theater will remain open throughout the period.

The new theaters will add stadium seating and wider rows to accommodate the new power recliners. Each seat will be bigger and softer, and, with the press of a button, the seat will lean back and a leg rest will pop up.

The combination of larger seats and stadium seating will reduce the capacity of each theater by 50 to 70 percent, Noonan said. Despite the reduction, the chain may not raise prices, though it hasn’t made a decision yet. AMC hopes that improving the movie watching experience while holding the line price --- AMC is $2 cheaper than ArcLight and $11 cheaper than Cinepolis --- will drive up ticket sales.

“What happens is that the popularity of the theater skyrockets, it truly does get people excited about coming to the movies again,” Noonan said.

The AMC La Jolla will also get a “Coca-Cola Freestyle” machine: Customers can make their own combination of Coke flavors. The machine will be part of a general upgrade of concessions, with more hot food and new candy options. The site may also get a full-service bar, but that decision has not been made, either, Noonan said.

Last but not least, the restrooms will also get an upgrade. Noonan didn’t get into the details of the improvements, but, he said, “That’s a popular with one with guests.”